Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) owner VG Siddhartha, whose body was found on the banks of Netravati River early morning on Wednesday near Hoige Bazaar in Mangaluru, was allegedly upset about “income tax torture”, claimed his close associate and Sringeri MLA TD Rajegowda.

“He was a close family friend of mine, for the last 40 years we have been close associates. Four-five days back he was upset about the Income Tax torture. Had he not been troubled, he would have survived,” said Mr Rajegowda.

“He worked for the economy of the country as well as Karnataka. He gave jobs to 30-50 thousand people who are from villages and also to the poor. He also wanted to sell some of his properties to settle the debts and had more assets than liabilities,” he added.

Days before he went missing, Mr Siddhartha, 60, had reportedly written a letter to board members and employees of Cafe Coffee Day. The letter – accessed by news agency ANI – alleges harassment by an income tax officer and expresses regret for not being able to create “the right profitable business”.

He also said that he was under “tremendous pressure” from one of “the private equity partners”.

Following a massive search operation involving multiple agencies, the body of missing CCD founder-owner VG Siddhartha was on the banks of Netravati River near Hoige Bazaar in Mangaluru.

The 60-year-old businessman was the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna and had been missing since Monday.

Siddhartha was last seen on Monday evening at the Netravati Bridge where he had gone for a stroll, Commissioner of Police, Mangalore, Sandeep Patil had said.

A massive search operation involving multiple teams of police forces along with the Coast Guard and NDRF was being carried out since Tuesday to locate Siddhartha. Police had also deployed the dog squads and inflatable boats in the search operation and roped in local fishermen to search the river.

In his letter, Siddhartha also surfaced also apologised to people who “put their trust” in him and said he failed to create the right profitable business model despite his best efforts.